London rides second-period blitz to series-squaring win

Bo Horvat’s highlight-reel winner is worth watching over and over again.

But his London Knights boss, Dale Hunter, thinks the OHL brass will take a hard look at another piece of video evidence from Game 2 — Anthony Camara’s third-period hit on Max Domi, ruled a major penalty and earning the Barrie and Canadian world-junior forward an early shower in London’s league-final-tying 4-1 win before 8,985 Sunday night at Budweiser Gardens.

“It was a hit you wish he’d take back,” the Knights head coach said after his team blitzed Barrie for three goals and 24 shots in a dominating second period. “I watched the replay on it and he left his feet and he hit the head. It’s one of those things that, after you do it, you realize that you shouldn’t have did it.

“The league will deal with it in the disciplinary way.”

Domi has an ugly-looking welt over his eye.

“He’s bruised up, but he finished the game,” Hunter said.

Barrie head coach Dale Hawerchuk, who can ill-afford to lose one of his top-line scorers, said he didn’t get a good look at the play. “I haven’t seen it,” Hawerchuk said. “It was in the corner. I didn’t see it (live).”

Hunter wasn’t done yet.

He wasn’t fond of Barrie forward Erik Bradford’s second-period cross-check on London defenceman Dakota Mermis while he was retreating to play the puck along the end boards. That touched off a scrum that ended with Knights forward Josh Anderson, back from a two-game absence from injury, gesturing up at the 3-0 score on the big clock from the penalty box at irate Colts rookie forward Brendan Lemieux.

“That’s very dangerous,” Hunter said of the Bradford hit.

“That’s how D (defencemen) going back for pucks break legs so that’s not a hit you want anybody to take. We got a good lead and sometimes my team does it – every team does it – the kids get frustrated a little bit because they’re behind.

“They (Barrie) got some penalties because of it.”

Seven of them, in fact, in that fateful second period.

“The period just turned terrible for us,” Hawerchuk said. “The second was one of our poorer periods in the playoffs. It was surprising, especially after we played so well in the (scoreless) first.”

London still hasn’t lost back-to-back games in these playoffs. They haven’t dropped two in a row in the post-season since Games 2 and 3 in their second-round series last year with Saginaw.

“In the dressing room over these last three years, it’s been a ‘don’t lose twice in a row’ mentality,” London’s Ryan Rupert said. “We learn through the season and then when it comes playoff time and you lose one, you regain it back (the following game) and then tie the series up and push ahead. You’ve got to bounce back and play hard.”

Seth Griffith struck first 18 seconds into the second. Horvat, his linemate, followed up 57 seconds later, poking home a shot on his forehand while sliding on the ice after being tripped up on a delayed penalty.

“I saw the puck laying there and just tried to get as much wood as I could on it,” the burly forward from Rodney said. “I think it went through his (goalie Mathias Niederberger’s) legs. You don’t really expect it, but you’ve got to throw everything at the net and see what happens.”

Hunter called it a second-effort goal.

“Right away, it reminded me of one Vlad (ex-Knight Namestnikov) scored in Saginaw two years ago,” Griffith said. “He was falling. He slid it into the net on his backhand. Nice goal. Getting back-to-back goals that quick, it gives our bench a lot of momentum.”

So did playing with the lead again.

Griffith and Horvat, along with Tyler Ferry, shut down the Mark Scheifele line and scored twice.

“We like the challenges,” Griffith said. “We just try to create offence out of it. We know they’re a really skilled line so if we backcheck hard and strip pucks from them, we turn around and try to get something going our way.”

Brett Welychka scored his first playoff goal in nearly 14 months on the power play. It came while crashing the net with former mate Andreas Athanasiou in the box for goalie interference.

“Us coming out off the hop (in the second) was huge,” the London native said. “We got the job done and after that (first) loss, we knew we had to come back.”

Athanasiou, who has scored in both games, looked on Barrie’s bright side.

“It’s great we split in the OHL finals in one of the hardest arenas to play in,” he said.

But the Knights are feeling it again.

Camara’s status is up in the air.

It’s starting to look like last year’s final – won by London in five – all over again.

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